Frostbite
Frostbite Blade Of Hope Screen From within the howling grasp of leaf-bare came an eerie, plaintive cry over the winds rampaging through the cave. Wind and snow swirled about in the dip between the mountains. The trees were coated with snow, creating a bleak, forbidding atmosphere. The cries of broken birds echoed between the stones as they plummeted over the mountains' cliffs to their doom in the deep valleys below. The snow kept falling, an endless whisper of white that blotted out the land in its entirety. It was the loneliest thing I've ever encountered. Three cats stood at the mouth of the cave, squinting against the blizzard and trying to see what was beyond their line of sight. They knew it was futile, but they had to try. It was their duty, as loyal members of FrostClan, to try. After all, their failure was the one thing that Spiralstar could not condone. "Is there anything out there?" the pale blue-gray tom shouted. "Silentcry, can you see anything?" "I'm so sorry, Fragmentlight," the small blue-gray she-cat cried back, the cold air freezing the tears onto her cheeks. "I can't see anything! I can't tell what's out there!" "Then why are we even out here?" the long-legged, limber white tom hissed. "If Silentcry can't see in this weather, what chance do we have? FrostClan is doomed!" "Shut up, Flickerflight," Fragmentlight snapped. "Just shut up and do your job! Even if we only notice when they're almost upon us, we'll sound the alarm and fight to the death! It's our duty as blizzard guards to defend the Clan until the end!" "I can't stand this for much longer," Silentcry wailed. "I'm going to die of the cold! Fragmentlight, please!" "No!" the tom called back firmly. "We will see this out to the end!" Then the snow started falling more thickly, and I couldn't see them anymore. That was the last time I ever saw those three unfortunate cats alive. Snowfall "Snowpa-" I look back over my shoulder as a snow-white tom comes running up towards me. "Sorry, what was that?" I tease. "Sorry, sorry, Snowfall," he apologizes, ducking his head in that way of his. "It's a habit," he protests when I snort at him. "Like you've never called a new warrior by their old apprentice name before!" "Me? Never!" I dig my paws into the snow, flicking it up at him in one solid motion. It covers his face and he sneezes, looking indignant as he shakes his head, trying to get it all off his face. "It's c-cold," he shivers, gasping as he prances about, shaking as much snow as possible out of his fur. "That was a little mean, y'know, Snowfall." "Sorry, Icicle''paw''." I purr to myself as he glares at me, clearly still mad that Glacierstar made me a warrior and not him. "It's just snow. You should be used to it by now." "It's still cold," he grumbles, turning away from me and heading deeper into the cave. I watch him go with a small twinge of sorrow. "Snowfall!" A snappish voice interrupts my thoughts. I whirl around hastily, finding myself nose-to-nose with Crystalstorm just as I knew I would. "Hello, Crystalstorm," I meow sheepishly. "Do you need me for something, or...?" Crystalstorm snorts. "Foolish little cat," she hisses. "You were supposed to go with us for highrock watch this morning!" "Oh, hawks and frostbite, I forgot!" I wince, realizing that I have indeed forgotten one of the most important tasks a FrostClan cat can have. "It's my first time, so I'm sure it'll be okay-" "It's not okay!" Crystalstorm retorts incredulously. "We were going to teach you everything about the highrock watch; we may never have another chance if the storms pick up like they have been lately! You stupid, stupid little..." She breaks off into a stream of muttered words that I can't quite hear. "I'm sorry," I whisper. "You'd better be," Crystalstorm warns. "Because if you're not, I'll personally put a claw through your ear next time I see you making dazzled eyes at your little apprentice friend there." "I am not making dazzled eyes at him!" I protest. "He's a good friend of mine and I can't wait until we're warriors together, that's all!" "Of course," Crystalstorm replies sarcastically. "I'll just leave you to it, then, shall I?" She bumps me roughly on the shoulder. "Make it up to your Clanmates by leaving with the next scout-hunters' patrol and catching us a falcon or something." With that, she stalks away from me, her gaze aimed at a pair of noisy apprentices who are squabbling farther back in the cave. I sigh. How could I have forgotten the highrock watch? But there's not much I can do about that now, so I settle down near the entrance of the cave, tucked against a wall so that I'm just barely out of the wind's furious reach, to wait for the next patrol. Screen I feel bad about what I did to them. "He's - dead?" the silvery-gray she-cat choked out. "Flickerflight is - dead?" "I'm so sorry, Icewing." The pure white tom beside her looked like he wanted to cry, be sick, or both as his bright blue eyes flickered back and forth between his companions - one living, the other dead. The body of Flickerflight, with its gray fur ruffled every which way and its neck snapped irreparably, was definitely a gruesome sight to behold. "I'm so sorry...!" "Sorry doesn't bring back my kit - my only kit!" Icewing's voice rose into a piercing wail, and she keened with grief as she buried her nose into his fur. "And now he's dead - all because of those ice monsters!" Her eyes were alight with a wild, mad sort of fire. "I'll kill them," she swore hysterically. "I'll kill all of them!" Her friend could only watch as she wandered blindly out into the cold beyond the cave. Throughout the next horrifying moons, she did indeed track down and kill most of the so-called "ice monsters". Her methods were brutal, her mindset ruthless. But despite all her best efforts, she never found me. I guess I should be glad for that. Snowfall Category:Bladefics Category:Fan Fictions